Packing heat in Minnesota

On Wednesday of this week Minnesota’s new Personal Protection Act went into effect. The law vastly expands the right of Minnesota citizens to acquire licenses to carry guns, a right formerly subject to the unfettered discretion of local police chiefs or sheriffs. The new law would not have passed without Republican pickups in the Minnesota legislature and in the governor’s office in the last election, and has of course been the subject of daily hysteria in the local press.
Praying devoutly for voter backlash, Democratic legislators prevented any revision of the statute to remove a potentially troublesome ambiguity after it was passed. They want to keep their powder dry for firing at the next election.
Today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune carries an entertaining profile of David Gross, a supporter of the new law. Gross is a Jewish attorney who packs heat at weekly Sabbath services at Bet Shalom Temple in suburban Minneapolis. The story is “For attorney David Gross, ‘conceal-and-carry law’ came none too soon.”